559

Notice of a fragment of the femur of a Gigantic
Bird of New Zealand. By richard Owen Esq. F.R.S.
F.Z.S. (Zoological Transactions. Vol. II. Part 1.)
Read November 12th. 1839.

The fragment of bone here described was placed in my
hands for examination by Mr. Rule*, with the statement
that it was found in the Island of New Zealand, where
the natives have a tradition that it belonged ot a bird of
the Eagle kind, but which has become extinct, and
to which they give the name of "*Movie". Similar bones
it is said are found buried in the banks of the rivers
of New Zealand.

The fragment is the shaft of a femur with both
extremities broken off. The length of the fragment is six*
inches, & its smallest circumference five inches & a half.
The exterior surface of the bone is not quite smooth, but
is sculptured* with very shallow reticulate indentations;
it also presents some well-marked inter..........* ridges.
One of those ridges (Pl. III. fig. 1) extends down the middle
of the anterior surface of the shaft to about one third
from the lower end where it bifurcates : two other ridges
ar lineo aspene*, traverse* longitudinally the posterior
or concave side of the shaft (Pl. III. fig.2) : ..............*
the outer or fibular side of the bone is broad xxxxx
& rugges, the other is a ...........*. linear ....................*

The first & most obvious idea of the nature of this bone
would probably be that it belongs to the human
species, or to one of the larger domestic animals
introduced into New Zealand by the settlers for
food or draught. It is, however, nearly double
the circumference of the femur of an ordinary
-.................* : it also differs in the greater expansion
of the two extremities than would be presented
by a section of the same length from any part
of the shaft of a human femur, & by the